GoodRead - Etiquette & Espionage

I had this in my To Read pile for quite some time. And after reading Soulless, the first book in Gail Carriger's adult series, The Parasols Protectorate (review here for you), you would have thought I would have read this sooner. Well, yes and no. I have my reasons. First, I was never ready for it. Not sure why. But I wasn't sure if I wanted to get into another series. And second, surely I should finish the Parasol Protectorate series. I mean, I have the second book in the series, Changeless, on my kindle.

So why did I pick this up? Well, I had tried to read another book and I just couldn't warm to it. I got around 50 pages in and went, "Nope. Not in the right mindset for this." so put it down and, after picking a few books at random, I read the first chapter of this and just kept reading late into the night.

Set around 25 years prior to the Parasols Protectorate, this new series follows Sophronia who is forced, by her mother, to enroll in Madamoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. But this finishing school isn't exactly what Sophronia's mother thinks it is. For this finishing school teaches these young ladies how to finish... well, everything. They learn to curtsy, dance and etiquette. But they also learn diversion, how to use a weapon and espionage. All in the politest way possible, of course.

But something is happening. Something Sophronia might be able to help. That is... if she figure out where exactly the "prototype" is...

This was fun! I like my fun reads at the moment (not sure why. Because Summer is here... kinda...) so this was nice fit for me. And it was steampunk, something I want to read more of, so it felt a perfect fit. And this story had a feel to it that reminded me of the first Harry Potter book, and that's rare! I enjoyed how the mystery of the prototype wasn't the main focal point of the story and I enjoyed slowly slipping into this new world that Sophronia had found herself in. Also, there are tiny nods to the Parasol Protectorate series which fans of Gail Carriger will spot and smile at.

But, this does feel like a first book in the series so there are things when you feel that Gail is setting things up for later books or she was writing this book to make us get use to the setting, characters and situations. And, while I enjoyed the day-to-day life at this school, I know some of you guys will read this and go "There's no plot!". This might be same with fans of the Parasol Protectorate.

But I really enjoyed it, and I will be waiting to see what happens next in the Finishing School series. Or maybe I should just read Changeless...